Note II-1 — Chapter II · ITINERARY, CONTINUED: ST. PAUL TO LEECH LAKE, SEPTEMBER 22D, 1805-JANUARY 31ST, 1806.

The village which Pike visited is marked on his map on the west, upper, or left bank of the Minnesota r., which here runs little E. of N. into the Mississippi. The hill on the point whence the Sioux saluted him so savagely was the scene of many a more warlike demonstration in after-years; for here was built Fort St. Anthony, later known as Fort Snelling, one of the most important and permanent military establishments in the United States, and for nearly half a century the most notable place on the Mississippi above Prairie du Chien. It was erected on the land which Pike secured by the transaction his text is about to describe, and which extended thence up the river to include the falls of St. Anthony, and thus the site of the present great city of Minneapolis, with St. Paul the twin metropolis of the Northwest. The location of Fort Snelling is in Nicollet's opinion "the finest site on the Mississippi river"; and I should be the last to dissent from this judgment, after my enjoyable visit to the fort in 1873, at the invitation of General Alexander. The bluff headland is about 105 feet above the water; the two rivers separated by this rocky point are respectively over 300 and nearly 600 feet broad. The height of Pilot Knob, across the Minnesota r., is about 250 feet. The plateau on the point of which the fort is situated stretches indefinitely S. W.; 8 m. direct N. W. are Minneapolis and the falls. The Mississippi receives the Minnesota at the point of greatest convexity of a deep bend to the S., duplicating that bend to the N. on which St. Paul is situated, the two together forming quite a figure of s. Nothing came of Pike's recommendation of this site for a military post till a report to the same effect was made by Major Long, after his expedition of 1817, during which he reached the place at 2 p. m., Wednesday, July 16th. On Feb. 10th, 1819, the Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, ordered the 5th infantry to proceed to the Mississippi and establish regimental headquarters at the mouth of St. Peter's r. A detachment of troops, mustering 98 rank and file, under Colonel Henry Leavenworth, who had become lieutenant-colonel of that regiment Feb. 10th, 1818, was first cantoned at New Hope, near Mendota, Sept. 24th, 1819, and preparations were begun at once for a permanent structure. The winter of 1819-20 was disastrous from scurvy. On May 5th, 1820, camp was shifted to a place near a spring, above the graveyard, and was thereupon named Camp Coldwater. In the spring of 1820 Jean Baptiste Faribault located himself in the vicinity; Governor Lewis Cass came from his exploration of the upper Mississippi during the summer, and Lawrence Taliaferro's Indian agency was established as Camp St. Peter's. As usual, the colonel commanding and the Indian agent clashed, notably in the matters of medals and whisky. In August, 1820, Colonel Josiah Snelling, who had become colonel of the regiment June 1st, 1819, arrived and relieved Colonel Leavenworth of the command. He determined to build on the point originally selected by Pike. The corner-stone of Fort St. Anthony is supposed to have been laid Sept. 10th, 1820; and the building was so far forward in the autumn of 1822 that the troops moved in, though it was not completed. It is traditional that a tree on which Pike had cut his name was ordered to be spared in the process of construction; but, if so, it soon disappeared. On May 10th, 1823, the first steamboat, the Virginia, reached the fort. It brought among other notables the Chevalier Beltrami. On July 3d, 1823, Major Long arrived, en route to his exploration of St. Peter's r. In 1824 General Winfield Scott visited the fort on a tour of inspection. It does not appear to have struck anybody before that the name of a professional saint of the Prince of Peace was absurdly inapplicable to any military establishment. General Scott very sensibly reported that the name was "foreign to all our associations," besides being "geographically incorrect," and recommended the post to be named Fort Snelling, in well-deserved compliment to the distinguished officer who had built it. The story of Fort Snelling, from its inception to the end of all Indian collisions, is an integral and very prominent part of the history of Minnesota; it is an honorable record, of which citizens and soldiery may be equally proud—one replete with stirring scenes and thrilling episodes, which in the lapse of years tradition has delighted to set in all the glamour of romance. But the most sober historians have found a wealth of material in the stern actualities of Fort Snelling. The facts in the case need no embellishment. The following are some of the many references that could be given to the early history of Fort Snelling: Occurrences in and around Fort Snelling from 1819 to 1840, E. D. Neill, M. H. C., II. Part 2, 1864; 2d ed. 1881, pp. 102-42. Early Days at Fort Snelling, Anon., M. H. C., I. Part 5, 1856; 2d ed. 1872, pp. 420-438 (many inaccuracies in dates, etc.). Running the Gauntlet, ibid., pp. 439-56, Anon., believed to be by W. J. Snelling, son of Josiah Snelling. Reminiscences of Mrs. Ann Adams, 1821-29, M. H. C., VI. Part 2, 1891, pp. 93-112. Autobiography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro, written in 1864, M. H. C., VI. Part 2, pp. 189-255 (specially interesting, as he was Indian agent, 1819-40).